john houston film set in cuba

[Ken Gargett]

little while ago, watched a terrific film called 'we were strangers'.

wondering if anyone else has seen it. filmed in (partly) havana in the late 40's/early 50's, though set in 1933 (i think they got permission because it showed the rebels in a poor light, pre the revolution and was actually about trying to overthrow machado). about a terrorist attack from their perspective of tghe terrorists (and without spoiling, set around a cemetry that we must have gone past 100 times). houston made it after treasure of sierra madre and key largo.

it was released about the time the communist hearings started which was poor timing.

i believe it disappeared for many years and has only been re-released in the last few years.

starred jennifer jones as a cuban and john garfield. what was interesting was that huston wanted a young unknown actress to play the cuban heroine - marilyn monroe. can't picture it.

and hemingway apparently helped with the screenplay but wanted the finish to be more realistic - read more violent - than what they did.

definitely worth seeing.

[PigFish]

Put this one in my rental queue, thanks amigo. I love JH films; Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the African Queen... all my favorites. If you added the number of times I have seen these three films alone you can see I have spent a lot of time with Mr. Huston

[Ken Gargett]

Put this one in my rental queue, thanks amigo. I love JH films; Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the African Queen... all my favorites. If you added the number of times I have seen these three films alone you can see I have spent a lot of time with Mr. Huston

ray, he was one of the greats.

i've a mate though, who has never been able to finish african queen, no matter how often i tell him it is a classic. he gets to the scene where katherine hepburn dumps the case of gin in the river, bottle by bottle, and can't get past it. must say i also would have tipped kate in after them.

and to think, i gather bogart only got it after ronald reagan pulled out.

[bassman]

Don't think I've ever seen a bad John Houston film. Key Largo is not especially well known, but I never tire of seeing it.

[Ken Gargett]

Don't think I've ever seen a bad John Houston film. Key Largo is not especially well known, but I never tire of seeing it.

interesting. over here, key largo would definitely be considered one of his better known works.

[anacostiakat]

I don't remember having seen We Were Strangers.

[PigFish]

little while ago, watched a terrific film called 'we were strangers'.

wondering if anyone else has seen it. filmed in (partly) havana in the late 40's/early 50's, though set in 1933 (i think they got permission because it showed the rebels in a poor light, pre the revolution and was actually about trying to overthrow machado). about a terrorist attack from their perspective of tghe terrorists (and without spoiling, set around a cemetry that we must have gone past 100 times). houston made it after treasure of sierra madre and key largo.

it was released about the time the communist hearings started which was poor timing.

i believe it disappeared for many years and has only been re-released in the last few years.

starred jennifer jones as a cuban and john garfield. what was interesting was that huston wanted a young unknown actress to play the cuban heroine - marilyn monroe. can't picture it.

and hemingway apparently helped with the screenplay but wanted the finish to be more realistic - read more violent - than what they did.

definitely worth seeing.

Watched it last night Ken. I enjoyed the film but can see why it was not ranked with what I consider his best films but I am not a big fan of Garfield. The best part was played by the Cuban cop. I don't recall his name but I recognized him as a character from a Bond film. I rather liked the rum and crab scene. The rebels in the basement, the woman, torn between fear and disgust!!!

By the looks of my copy of the disk, it looked as if it had been rented very little. Thanks for the tip amigo. -Ray

[Ken Gargett]

The best part was played by the Cuban cop. I don't recall his name but I recognized him as a character from a Bond film.

he was terrific.

i can't recall his name either but he played the turkish spy, on bond's side, in 'from russia with love'. he was eventually killed by robert shaw on the train. he was terrific in that as well.

in real life, he tragically developed cancer and committed suicide - was on the set of the film with john wayne and others out where there was testing done and so many of them eventually contracted cancer.

[buster]

he was terrific.

i can't recall his name either but he played the turkish spy, on bond's side, in 'from russia with love'. he was eventually killed by robert shaw on the train. he was terrific in that as well.

in real life, he tragically developed cancer and committed suicide - was on the set of the film with john wayne and others out where there was testing done and so many of them eventually contracted cancer.

Great actor, Pedro Arendariz:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Armendáriz

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000784/

I'll have to rent "We Were Strangers"

Rick